Display Device

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

The disclosure is related to a display device, and more particularly to a display device with photosensitive elements.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the prior art, the display panel is provided with photosensitive elements to detect fingerprints. The photosensitive element generates a corresponding light-receiving current or voltage according to the amount of received light. Therefore, the light intensity can be obtained according to the light-receiving current or voltage generated by the photosensitive element, and the texture on the surface of the object can be inferred. However, when the photosensitive element is installed, the light-receiving surface of the photosensitive element is often blocked by non-transparent signal lines, resulting in a decrease in the light sensing performance of the photosensitive element. Therefore, it is an objective to develop a design with a structure that can improve the quality of the display devices.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

An embodiment discloses a display device comprising a substrate, a photosensitive element formed above the substrate, a signal line formed above the substrate, and a transparent conductive member electrically connected to the signal line and the photosensitive element. In a normal direction of the substrate, the signal line does not overlap with the photosensitive element.

These and other objectives of the present disclosure will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a display device according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of a pixel of the display device in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the display device in FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a display device according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to some embodiments of the present disclosure, and examples of some embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying simplified drawings. The components may not be drawn to scale. In addition, the number and size of each element in the drawings are merely illustrative, and are not used to limit the scope of the disclosure.

Throughout the disclosure and the appended claims, certain words are used to refer to specific elements. Those skilled in the art should understand that electronic device manufacturers may refer to the same elements with different names, and this disclosure does not intend to distinguish those elements with the same function but different names. In the following description and claims, the words “comprising” and “including” etc. are all open-ended words, so they should be interpreted as meaning “comprising but not limited to . . . ”.

The directional terms mentioned in the following embodiments, such as up, down, left, right, front or back, etc., are only the directions with reference to the drawings. Therefore, the directional terms are used to illustrate and not to limit the disclosure. It must be understood that the elements specifically described or illustrated can exist in various forms well known to those skilled in the art. In addition, when an element or film layer is referred to as being on or connected to another element or film layer, it should be understood that the element or film layer is directly located on another element or another film layer, or directly connected to another element or film layer, or there may be other elements or film layers between the two (indirect). But on the contrary, when an element or film is said to be “directly on” or “directly connected to” another element or film, it should be understood that there is no element or film therebetween.

The ordinal numbers used in the specification and the claims, such as “first”, “second”, etc., are used to modify the elements of the claims. They do not imply and represent that the claimed element has any previous ordinal numbers, nor does it represent the order of a certain claimed element and another claimed element, or the order in the manufacturing process. The use of these ordinal numbers is only used to make a claimed element with a certain name be clearly distinguishable from another claimed element with the same name.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meanings commonly understood by the skilled in the art. It is understandable that these terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the relevant technology and the background or context of this disclosure, rather than in an idealized or overly formal way, unless specifically defined here. In addition, the term “substrate” in the following text may include elements already formed on the substrate or various films covering the substrate. For example, any required active elements (such as transistors) may be formed on the substrate. However in order to simplify the diagram, the substrate is only shown as being flat.

It should be noted that the technical solutions provided by the different embodiments below can be used interchangeably, combined or mixed to form another embodiment without violating the spirit of the present disclosure.

The display device of the present disclosure may comprise, for example, a spliced display device, a touch display device, a curved display device, or a non-rectangular display device (free shape display), but it is not limited thereto. The display device can be a bendable or flexible electronic device. The display device may comprise, for example, liquid crystals, light emitting diodes, fluorescence, phosphor, other suitable display media, or a combination of the foregoing, but is not limited thereto. The light emitting diode may comprise, for example, an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a submillimeter light emitting diode (mini LED), a micro light emitting diode (micro LED), or a quantum dot light emitting diode (for example, QLED, QDLED) or other suitable materials or any combination of the above materials, but not limited thereto. In addition, the display device may be rectangular, circular, polygonal, a shape with curved edges, or other suitable shapes. It should be noted that the electronic device can be any combination of the foregoing, but is not limited thereto.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a display device 100 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The display device 100 may include a panel PNL 1 and a plurality of pixels X 1 to XN arranged in a display area DA 1 . In some embodiments, the pixels X 1 to XN may have the same structure. FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of the pixel X 1 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. In FIG. 2 , the pixel X 1 may include a display pixel 150 and a photosensitive element 120 .

In some embodiments, the display pixel 150 may include sub-pixels 152 , 154 , and 156 for emitting light of different colors. For example, the sub-pixel 152 may be used to emit red light, for example but not limited thereto, the sub-pixel 154 may be used to emit green light, for example but not limited thereto, and the sub-pixel 156 may be used to emit blue light, for example, but not limited thereto. In FIG. 2 , the sub-pixels 152 , 154 , and 156 can be electrically connected to the corresponding data lines DL 1 , and can be electrically connected to the scan line SCL 1 . In other words, the sub-pixels 152 , 154 , and 156 can perform scanning operations in the same time period according to the scan signal on the scan line SCL 1 , and read the corresponding data signals from the corresponding data lines DL 1 , so that the sub-pixels 152 , 154 and 156 of different colors can each emit light of corresponding intensity, and enable the display pixel 150 to present the desired color.

In FIG. 2 , the photosensitive element 120 can be electrically connected to the scan line SCL 2 , and the display pixel 150 and the photosensitive element 120 do not overlap in the top view. The photosensitive element 120 can generate a corresponding light-sensing current or voltage according to the amount of received light. Therefore, according to the light-sensing currents or voltages generated by the photosensitive elements 120 of the pixels X 1 to XN, the distribution of light reception in the display area DA 1 can be known, and the surface texture of the object above the display area DA 1 can be inferred. In some embodiments, the display device 100 can sense fingerprints on the display area DA 1 through the photosensitive elements 120 in the pixels X 1 to XN.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the display device 100 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. In FIG. 3 , the display device 100 may include a substrate 110 , a photosensitive element 120 and a signal line 130 .

In some embodiments, the substrate 110 may be a flexible substrate or a non-flexible substrate. The material of the substrate 110 may be glass, quartz, sapphire, ceramic, polycarbonate (PC), polyimide (PI), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), other suitable substrate materials, or a combination of the foregoing, but not limited thereto.

The photosensitive element 120 may be formed above the substrate 110 , and the photosensitive element 120 may include electrodes P 1 and P 2 and an amorphous silicon layer 122 . In some embodiments, the photosensitive element 120 may include a phase shift switch diode. The electrode P 1 may be an N electrode, and the electrode P 2 may be a P electrode, but is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the electrode P 1 may be a P electrode, and the electrode P 2 may be an N electrode.

In addition, although the photosensitive element 120 uses the amorphous silicon layer 122 as a low-doped intrinsic semiconductor layer of the phase shift switch diode, in some other embodiments, the amorphous silicon layer 122 may also be replaced by other material layers. For example, the photosensitive element 120 can use polysilicon, single crystal silicon, germanium (Ge), gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), cadmium telluride (CdTe), cadmium sulfide (CdS), or other organic materials, such as polythiophene (P3HT), fullerene derivatives (PCBM), indene-carbon 60 double adduct (ICBA) or polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT):PSS).

In FIG. 3 , the signal line 130 may be electrically connected to the photosensitive element 120 . The signal line 130 can transmit the light-sensing current or voltage generated by the photosensitive element 120 to the corresponding circuit for interpretation or processing. It can also provide a reset signal before the photosensitive element 120 performs light sensing, so as to improve the accuracy of the light-sensing current or voltage generated by the photosensitive element 120 after light-sensing is performed. In some embodiments, the signal line 130 may be molybdenum (Mo), aluminum (Al), or a composite metal containing a plurality of materials.

In some embodiments, the photosensitive element 120 may have a light receiving side B 1 for receiving ambient light and a line side B 2 for transmitting signals. In FIG. 3 , the signal line 130 and the photosensitive element 120 may not overlap in the normal direction N of the substrate 110 . Therefore, in some embodiments, although the signal line 130 may be made of an opaque metal material and may be arranged on the light receiving side of the photosensitive element 120 , the signal line 130 does not block the light reception at alight receiving surface A 1 of the photosensitive element 120 . Therefore, the photosensitive element 120 can maintain good photosensitive performance. In some embodiments, the range of the light receiving surface A 1 may be defined as a flat area above the electrode P 2 .

In FIG. 3 , the display device 100 may further include a transparent conductive member 140 . The transparent conductive member 140 may include a transparent electrode TP 1 and a transparent bridging unit TB 1 . The transparent conductive member 140 may be electrically connected to the signal line 130 and the photosensitive element 120 . The transparent electrode TP 1 is electrically connected to the signal line 130 and the transparent bridge unit TB 1 . In some embodiments, the electrode P 2 may be made of a semiconductor material, thus the conductivity is poor. In some embodiments, the photosensitive element 120 may further include a transparent electrode TP 1 , and the transparent electrode TP 1 may be formed at the surface of the electrode P 2 to improve the conductivity of the electrode P 2 of the photosensitive element 120 . In addition, in this embodiment, since the photosensitive element 120 is mainly used to sense light in the visible light band, indium tin oxide (ITO) can be selected as the material of the transparent electrode TP 1 . In this case, the transparent bridging unit TB 1 can be electrically connected to the transparent electrode TP 1 of the photosensitive element 120 .

The light transmittance of the transparent conductive member 140 can be above 80%, for example between 81% and 99%, and the material can be, for example, but not limited to, indium tin oxide (ITO). The transparent conductive member 140 may be formed above the photosensitive element 120 , and the transparent bridging unit TB 1 may at least partially overlap the photosensitive element 120 in the normal direction N of the substrate 110 . However, because the transparent bridging unit TB 1 can allow light to penetrate, the transparent bridging unit TB 1 above the photosensitive element 120 is used to electrically connect the signal line 130 , thereby reducing the area being blocked by the signal line 130 at the light receiving surface A 1 .

In some embodiments, since the light transmittance of the transparent bridge unit TB 1 may not be 100%, in order to minimize the shielding of the photosensitive element 120 , the overlap width W 1 of the transparent bridge unit TB 1 and the photosensitive element 120 may be selected to be smaller than the width W 2 of the photosensitive element 120 . For example, the overlap width W 1 of the transparent bridge unit TB 1 and the photosensitive element 120 may be less than one third of the width W 2 of the photosensitive element 120 , but not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the “transmittance” mentioned in this case refers to the light intensity of the transmitted light measured after the light source passes through the transparent conductive member 140 divided by the light intensity of the transmitted light measured when the light source does not pass through the transparent conductive member 140 in terms of percentage. The light intensity mentioned in the present disclosure refers to the spectrum integral value of the light source (the light source may, for example, include ambient light), and the light source may for example include visible light (for example, the wavelength is between 380 nm and 780 nm), but is not limited thereto. For example, when the light source is visible light, the light intensity is the integrated value of the spectrum in the wavelength range of 380 nm to 780 nm, and the transmittance of the transparent conductive member 140 is the integrated value of the visible light spectrum measured after the light source passes through the transparent conductive member 140 divided by the integrated value of the visible spectrum measured when the light source does not pass through the transparent conductive member 140 in terms of percentage.

In FIG. 3 , the display device 100 may include a plurality of insulating layers IL 1 to IL 10 formed above the substrate 110 , and each insulating layer may be provided with a corresponding circuit or element. For example, the metal line M 3 can be formed on the insulating layer IL 5 , and the insulating layer IL 6 can cover the metal line M 3 . The insulating layer IL 6 has a hole V 1 to expose the metal line M 3 , and the photosensitive element 120 can be formed on the insulating layer IL 6 . In this way, the electrode P 1 of the photosensitive element 120 can be electrically connected to the metal line M 3 through the hole V 1 . Similarly, the metal line M 3 can also be electrically connected to the metal line M 2 formed below through the hole in the lower insulating layer.

In addition, the insulating layer IL 7 can cover the photosensitive element 120 , the insulating layer IL 8 can be formed on the insulating layer IL 7 , and the signal line 130 can be formed on the insulating layer IL 8 . The insulating layer IL 9 can be formed on the insulating layer IL 8 and can cover the signal line 130 , and the transparent bridge unit TB 1 can be formed on the insulating layer IL 9 . In this embodiment, the insulating layer IL 9 may have a hole V 2 to expose a part of the signal line 130 , so the transparent bridge unit TB 1 may be electrically connected to the signal line 130 through the hole V 2 . Furthermore, the insulating layer IL 7 , the insulating layer IL 8 , and the insulating layer IL 9 may have a connected hole V 3 for exposing the transparent electrode TP 1 . In this case, the transparent bridge unit TB 1 can be electrically connected to the transparent electrode TP 1 through the hole V 3 , and the insulating layer IL 10 can cover the transparent bridge unit TB 1 and the holes V 2 and V 3 to protect the transparent bridge unit TB 1 .

In FIG. 3 , the insulating layer IL 2 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 1 , the insulating layer IL 3 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 2 , the insulating layer IL 4 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 3 , and the insulating layer IL 5 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 4 . The layer IL 6 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 5 , the insulating layer IL 7 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 6 , the insulating layer IL 8 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 7 , the insulating layer IL 9 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 8 , and the insulating layer IL 10 may be formed on the insulating layer IL 9 . Different metal lines can be formed in different insulating layers IL 1 to IL 10 so as to avoid not having sufficient space for winding different metal lines if they are all formed in the same layer, improving the flexibility of winding the metal lines. This allows the display device 100 to accommodate more components and traces in a limited area. For example, the insulating layer IL 1 can be used to isolate the transistor 170 and the metal line M 1 , the insulating layer IL 2 can be used to isolate the metal line M 1 and the metal line M 2 , and the insulating layer IL 3 can be used to isolate the metal line M 2 and other components or metal lines formed on the insulating layer IL 4 . The insulating layers IL 4 and IL 7 can be flat layers and can be used to isolate different metal lines. In some embodiments, the insulating layers IL 1 to IL 10 may be made of organic materials or inorganic materials.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, the display device 100 may further include a backlight module 160 formed under the substrate 110 , and the backlight module 160 may provide a backlight light source required by the display pixels 150 . In some embodiments, the display device 100 may further include a transistor 170 . The transistor 170 may include a source electrode, a drain electrode, and a gate electrode. The gate electrode may be formed on the metal line M 1 , and the source electrode and/or drain electrode may be formed in the metal line M 2 . The transistor 170 may further include a polysilicon doping area S 1 and a polysilicon doping area D 1 , a light doping area LDD 1 and LDD 2 , and a channel area PS 1 . The polysilicon doping area S 1 and the polysilicon doping area D 1 can be connected to the source and the drain, respectively. In order to reduce the photocurrent generated by the transistor 170 when the light emitted by the backlight module 160 irradiates the channel area PS 1 , the display device 100 may further include a buffer layer BL 1 and at least one shading member 180 . The at least one shading member 180 may be formed on the substrate 110 , the buffer layer BL 1 may cover the at least one shading member 180 , and the transistor 170 may be formed on the buffer layer BL 1 . Through the at least one shading member 180 , the light emitted by the backlight module 160 can be blocked from entering the transistor 170 .

Since the display device 100 can use the transparent conductive member 140 to electrically connect the signal line 130 and the photosensitive element 120 , it can reduce the area of the light receiving surface A 1 of the photosensitive element 120 being blocked by the signal line 130 , so that the photosensitive element 120 can keep a better light sensing performance.

Although the display device 100 uses the transparent bridging unit TB 1 of the transparent conductive member 140 to electrically connect the signal line 130 to the photosensitive element 120 , in some other embodiments, the transparent bridging unit TB 1 can be omitted while still electrically connect the signal line 130 to the transparent electrode TP 1 without blocking the photosensitive element 120 .

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a display device 200 according to another embodiment of the disclosure. The display device 200 has a similar structure to the display device 100 and can operate according to similar principles. The display device 200 may include a substrate 210 , a photosensitive element 220 and a signal line 230 . In FIG. 4 , the transparent conductive member 240 may include a transparent electrode TP 2 , and the transparent electrode TP 2 has an extension E 1 extending to the outside of the photosensitive element 220 . In the normal direction N of the substrate 210 , the extension E 1 of the transparent electrode TP 2 and the light receiving surface A 2 of the photosensitive element 220 do not overlap. In this case, the signal line 230 can be electrically connected to the extension E 1 of the transparent electrode TP 2 , so that the signal line 230 will not block the light receiving surface A 2 of the photosensitive element 220 . In some embodiments, the photosensitive element 220 can be formed in the insulating layer IL 7 , and the upper surface of the photosensitive element 220 and the upper surface of the insulating layer IL 7 can be coplanar, so that the transparent electrode TP 2 can be formed on the photosensitive element 220 and the insulating layer IL 7 , and the extension E 1 can be formed on the insulating layer IL 7 .

In addition, in FIG. 4 , the insulating layer IL 8 may have a connected hole V 4 , and the hole V 4 may expose the extension E 1 of the transparent electrode TP 2 , so the signal line 230 may be electrically connected to the transparent electrode TP 2 through the hole V 4 . In this way, the connection between the signal line 230 and the transparent electrode TP 2 can be arranged outside the light receiving surface A 2 of the photosensitive element 220 , so that the area of the light receiving surface A 2 of the photosensitive element 220 being blocked is reduced, enhancing the performance of light sensing. In some embodiments, the width W 3 of the extension E 1 may be less than one third of the width W 4 of the photosensitive element 220 to reduce the winding area required by the photosensitive element 220 .

In summary, the display device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can utilize transparent conductive members or transparent electrodes extending from the photosensitive element to reduce the area of the light receiving surface of the photosensitive element being blocked by the opaque signal line, thereby enhancing the performance of light sensing of the display device.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.